Don´t listen to yourself:

successfully redesigning
the leading e-commerce platform
in Latin America
Add to Schedule

Daniel Rabinovich
CTO
www.mercadolibre.com
@drabinovich
Agenda

 Who we are (2’)

 Why we were sidetracked
 The Redesign
Who we are
MercadoLibre (NASDAQ: MELI) is the largest e-commerce platform in Latin
America and the 11th Retail Site in the world.

Hard data (2010):

 1.7bn pages viewed per month

 ~50mm search page views /weekday

 3.4BN in GMVe

 697MM Total Payment Value

 84MM New Paid Listings

 39MM Successful Items

We lead in every market we operate in
ComScore MMX – Latin America Retail ComScore MMX – Brazil Retail
Total unique Total unique
visitors (000s) Reach (%) visitors (000s) Reach (%)
Total Internet audience 93,402 100.0 Total Internet audience 32,385 100.0
1 MercadoLibre 27,459 29.4 1 MercadoLibre 10,646 32.9
2 BuscaPé.com Inc. 12,245 13.1 2 Lojas Americanas 8,815 27.2
3 Lojas Americanas 8,916 9.5 3 BuscaPé.com Inc. 8,542 26.4
4 Amazon Sites 7,542 8.1 4 UOL Shopping 2,774 8.6
5 Apple.com Sites 5,781 6.2 5 Magazineluiza.com.br 2,133 6.6
6 Dell 2,903 3.1 6 Netshoes.com,br 2,070 6.4
7 AmericanGreetings 2,900 3.1 7 Casasbahia.com.br 2,042 6.3
8 UOL Shopping 2,812 3.0 8 Amazon Sites 1,821 5.6
9 Hewlett Packard 2,694 2.9 9 Pontofrio.com.br 1,808 5.6
10 Bing Ciao 2,299 2.5 10 Extra.com.br 1,703 5.3

ComScore MMX – Mexico Retail ComScore MMX – Argentina Retail

Total unique Total unique
visitors (000s) Reach (%) visitors (000s) Reach (%)
Total Internet audience 14,275 100.0 Total Internet audience 12,075 100.0
1 MercadoLibre 4,663 32.7 1 MercadoLibre 4,311 35.7
2 Apple.com Inc. 1,396 9.8 2 Masoportunidades.com.ar 1,154 9.6
3 Amazon Sites 1,125 7.9 3 Amazon Sites 775 6.4
4 Paguito.com 1,036 7.3 4 BuscaPé.com Inc. 612 5.1
5 BuscaPé.com Inc. 999 7.0 5 Apple.com Inc. 523 4.3
6 AmericanGreetings 817 5.7 6 Garbarino.com 517 4.3
7 Ticketmaster 706 4.9 7 Bing Ciao 435 3.6
8 Hewlett Packard 620 4.3 8 Ticketek Pty Ltd 402 3.3
8 Bing Ciao 602 4.2 9 AmericanGreetings 386 3.2
10 Dell 10 Fravega.com 337 2.8
471 3.3
Agenda

 Who we are (2’)

 Why we were sidetracked
 The Redesign
First Rule of Usability: Don’t Listen to Users

 The greatest usability barrier was the

preponderance of cool design. Most projects were
ruled by usability opponents who preferred
complexity over simplicity.

 Too frequently, I hear about companies basing their

designs on user input obtained through misguided
methods. A typical example? Create a few
alternative designs, show them to a group of users,
and ask which one they prefer. Wrong. Jakob Nielsen

 To discover which designs work best, watch users

as they attempt to perform tasks with the user
interface. This method is so simple that many
people overlook it.
How to get it right: watch instead of listen

 Watch what people actually do.

 Do not believe what people say they do.

 Definitely don't believe what people predict they

may do in the future.
Jakob Nielsen
How we got it wrong: listened to our own needs

 We claimed to focus on users…

…but developed the ability to explain away many
design mistakes in the name of revenues or
features

 We were really designing around two wrong

principles:

 Revenue generation trumped usability

 Engineering challenges/feature richness trumped

usability
By focusing on wrong principles
we developed a series of “design anti-patterns”

 Anti pattern #1: Charge for a good experience.

 Anti pattern #2: If it brings eyeballs to site, it is good.

 Anti pattern #3: If it brings revenue, then it is worth doing.

 Anti pattern #4: All BU’s need exposure on the HomePage

 Anti pattern #5: Complexity is a sign of feature richness

Agenda

 Who we are (2’)

 Why we were sidetracked
- In-depth look at each anti-pattern
 The Redesign
AP #1: Charge for a good experience

 Revenue opportunity:
charge for “picture in listing pages”

 It was the most profitable

“Optional Feature Fee”

 Outcome: No pictures in search

results for millions of queries…
AP #1: Charge for a good experience (II)

 Revenue Opportunity: charge for

“highlight your item”

 It was the second most profitable

“Optional Feature Fee”

 Outcome: “Happy” sellers,

overwhelmed buyers…
AP #2: If it brings eyeballs to site, it is good
 Traffic opportunity: Add “harmless”
content
for Search Engines

 Traffic opportunity: Users don’t even

see footers. Let´s use them
for something “productive”…

 Outcome: loads of useless content

that confuses buyers
AP #3: If it brings revenue, then it is worth doing
 Advertisers want to
be above the fold

 Should lower featured items

 Outcome: “hidden” loss of revenues

from poorer conversion rates as a
consequence of the ads
AP #4: All BU’s need exposure on the HomePage
 Site is treated as real estate that has to be distributed among BU’s.
Outcome: site overload
AP #5: Complexity is a sign of feature richness
 Users demand hundreds of features

 Should try to please everyone

 Outcome: overwhelmed users

Solving these anti-patterns
required much more than “Web Design”…
Agenda

 Who we are (2’)

 Why we were sidetracked
- In-depth look at each anti-pattern
 The Redesign
Get out of the Monkey Trap
Re-think the pricing model
It was neccessary to fix revenue induced anti patterns

Revenue streams

Business Units

Pricing Model
From “Featured Fees” to “Exposure Fees”
There is no maneuvering room when there are “visual highlight” fees

Old Optional Feature Fees New “Listing Types” allow cleaner results
Never charge for delivering a good experience
Eliminated “Picture in Listing Pages” Optional Feature Fee
Old version: paid pictures in Same Search Query with New Version
listing pages (all pictures for free)
The real cost of advertising and communicating
Minimizing the “vicious cycle” of visual competition

Old Home Page New Home Page

Simplify, simplify
Thoreau

Slide inspired from a Chris Nodder Presentat

Simplicity first
Keep what the users acually use, not what managers *think* is useful
Nothing is “harmless”
Useless content on footers is typically added aiming to Search Engines traffic

Previous Scroll Bottom Current Scroll Bottom

(1024x768) (1024x768)
Velocity First
Focus on HTTP requests and implementing CDNs.

Oct 2009
Apr 2010
Use the crowd to help new users
Favor the majority and make choices for them

Automatic “zoom in”:

Demand data was concentrated
in “Players” and not “Accessories”

Top Nav Bar for “Players”:

Specific facets
Direct Operational Metrics
Lowered bounce rates, decreased time on page and accelerated Successful Items
Agenda

 Who we are (2’)

 Why we were sidetracked
- In-depth look at each anti-pattern
 The Redesign
 Wrapping up
Wrapping up…
 User Experience goes far beyond “Web Design”.

 Requires “true commitment”, usually from the CEO.

 “Unstable Organizational Equilibrium”.

Must apply force to achieve collaboration.

 A/B testing is useless when evaluating dramatic changes.

 Usability Testing is key.

 Beware of HIPPOs (Highest Paid People´s Opinion).

 Going after UX, everything could be changed.

Even your business model.
Don´t listen to yourself:
successfully redesigning
the leading e-commerce platform
in Latin America

Daniel Rabinovich
CTO
www.mercadolibre.com
@drabinovich